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Comment by Peter Daszak

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British-American zoologist and disease ecologist
The first cases were associated with that market, not the lab. Detailed, sophisticated analysis supports that conclusion. Nothing supports the lab leak. The one—and only—piece of evidence for a lab leak is that there’s a lab in Wuhan.
AI Verified (Apr 5, 2026)
Source:
Peter Daszak, quoted in Benjamin Mateus, "The Wuhan 'lab leak' fraud and the institutionalization of anti-science," World Socialist Web Site, April 5, 2026.
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The clustering of early cases around the Huanan market reflects where the COVID-19 virus emerged, not just where testing looked
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Statement relation comments

AI Verified Relevant: the quote directly argues that the earliest cases were linked to the Huanan market rather than the lab, and the source context presents that point as evidence for market-based emergence; the same article also says the earliest known cases clustered around the market even when excluding people who worked or shopped there. That makes the author's stance on whether the clustering reflects origin, rather than just where testing looked, substantially more likely to determine. ([wsws.org](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/04/06/jhmx-a06.html)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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AI Verified The quote strongly supports this: Daszak says "The first cases were associated with that market, not the lab" and that "Detailed, sophisticated analysis supports that conclusion," while rejecting lab-leak evidence. In context, he is using the early-case clustering around the Huanan market as evidence of the outbreak’s origin there, not merely of where investigators happened to look. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago

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AI Verified The WSWS interview page is fetchable and presents the quote verbatim under “Peter Daszak (PD)” at lines 78–79: “The first cases were associated with that market, not the lab. Detailed, sophisticated analysis supports that conclusion. Nothing supports the lab leak. The one—and only—piece of evidence for a lab leak is that there’s a lab in Wuhan.” The same page’s header lists the article date as 5 April 2026, so the stored author, date, and source URL are consistent. ([wsws.org](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/04/06/jhmx-a06.html)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
replying to Peter Daszak